Eager for test, he challenged the Spurs to treat the game as if it were the playoffs. They responded with their 18th straight victory to set a franchise record for the regular season. (The 2012 team won 20 including the playoffs.) It is tied for the eighth-longest streak in NBA history:

ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton wrote hours before the Spurs’ triumph at Indiana that their average margin of 16 points through 17 games tied the legendary 1971-72 Lakers for largest among any team to have won that many consecutive games. After pounding the Pacers by 26, the figure is now 16.6 points per game.

The schedule has been decidedly soft for most of the Spurs’ streak. The first 17 opponents were a combined 149 games under .500 entering Monday’s games, with only five currently in position to make the playoffs.

Despite their lofty perch in the Eastern Conference standings, even the Pacers have been poor with Monday marking their 10th loss in 16 games. But they still had lost only four times at Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season, and never by more than eight. Indeed, you have to go back to their 27-point loss to — who else? — the Spurs in Feb. 2008 to surpass Monday’s margin of defeat at home.

It was the latest conquest in a streak that has seen the Spurs just win 18 games, but dominate in the process. As Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver noted on Twitter during the game, the Spurs are leading the NBA during their streak in no fewer than 16 statistical categories:

The end is likely nigh, with Thursday’s game at Oklahoma City providing a perfect opportunity for Popovich to rest his troops for what will be their fifth in seven nights. But the way things are going, even he might not be able to stop the Spurs.